Forbidden Knowledge

Join Lee Russell, Daniel Harper and Paul Remaley as they discuss films they love, hate, or perhaps are on the fence about, usually while drinking. New episode uploaded to Youtube and uploaded here every Monday, unless real life gets in the way. Questions and comments can be emailed here: houglyreviews@gmail.com

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In this episode Lee decided to play some selections from his favourite westerns (part 2 coming next episode). Lee tried really, really hard not to let Italian westerns take over this first playlist. He really did.

It's more 1980s; it's more sci-fi, but with some punk rockers, a latino militant rebel group, Harry Dean Stanton, and lots of generic groceries! Yup, it's time for Lee and Daniel to check out Alex Cox's Repo Man from 1984. Lee starts off fairly intoxicated and just gets worse, but the conversation is as fun as hell. Listener comments and what the hosts have listened to are also covered.

Lee and Daniel are back, continuing on their (mostly) 1980s sci-fi theme to cover 1986's "Short Circuit" and the sequel from 1988 "Short Circuit 2". Then they jump into the 1990s to phreak-out with the cult classic "Hackers" (1995). There's a surprising amount of talk about the background of the hacker culture, and a lot of asides about all three films, including Lee's take on what "Short Circuit 2" should have actually been about. What they've watched as of late and a larger than usual amount of listener comments are read and responded to in an already longer-than-usual episode.

Continuing with a short series on mostly weird 1980s (and possibly some 1990s) sci-fi, Lee and Daniel tackle two more mainstream examples in "Innerspace" and "Batteries Not Included", both from 1987. Listener comments and what they've watched lately are also covered.

This time out on Blood on the Tracks Lee found himself busy and hurting for a topic before the month came to a close. He happened to be watching "Taste the Blood of Dracula" and a subject for the episode came to mind: the Hammer scores of James Bernard. At times his pieces were big and bombastic, at other times subtle and creepy, and even flowery and romantic, thus he envoked both power and foreboding meanace, as well as heart to the classic films he scored. Due to time constraints and sourcing issues, the majority of this playlist will feature mostly the main title tracks of these films and suites that Lee didn't have a complete track listings for.

Playlist:

--"The Quatermass Xperiment" (1955) --Excerpts from "X: The Unknown" (1956) --"Quatermass 2" (1957) --"The Curse of Frankenstein" (1957) --Main Titles and The Legend of the Hound from "The Hound of the Baskervilles" (1959) --Excerpts from "The Terror of the Tongs" (1961) --Excerpts from "These Are the Damned", including Black Leather Rock (1962) --"Kiss of the Vampire" (1963) --"The Gorgon" (1964) --"She" (1965) --"Frankenstein Created Woman" (1967) --"The Devil Rides Out" (1968) --"Taste the Blood of Dracula" (1970) --Finale and End Credits from "Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell" (1974) --"The Legend of the Seven Golden Vampires" (1974) --"The Horror of Dracula" (1958)

Opening and closing music: Downhill Decoy from "Danger Diabolik" by Ennio Morricone & Blonk Monster from "House by the Cemetery" by Walter Rizzati.

Lee and Daniel kick off a series looking at (mostly) 1980s sci-fi with two odd-ball entries into the genre, those being the obscure "Radioactive Dreams" (1985) and the cable tv staple "Cherry 2000" (1987). Listener comments and what they've watched as of late are also covered.

2017 is gone but Lee and Daniel's best first-time watches remain burnt into their brains. If you hate their "what we've watched lately" segments (and there's one of those before the actual best-of conversation starts around 33 minutes in), this is pretty much an extended one of those. You've been warned.

Lee and Daniel kick off 2018 with the western/noir "Bad Day at Black Rock" (1955), directed by John Sturges. The boundries Sturges pushes against with the material relative to the time the film was made are discussed, as well as just what an amazing collection of talent is shown on screen. Also covered: a listener comment (sort of) and a lengthy discussion about what they've watched as of late (the actual film review starts about a half hour into the episode).

Our next episode will be our best first time movie watches in 2017. Want to contribute? Email your list either via text or an attached .mp3 to houglyreviews@gmail.com ...or leave it on the wall of the They Must Be Destroyed On Sight! Facebook group.

The holiday season is here and it's getting bloody cold around these parts as winter finally sets in. At first Lee wanted to build a playlist around Christmas films, but he decided that was a bit too obvious and lame. After asking the TMBDOS! listeners what they wanted, he settled on movies set during the winter time that were not focused on the holidays. Although mostly focused on horror, there are some nice surprises here as well.

Lee and Dan are continuing down the classic western film trail with what many consider to be the film that really breathed new life into, and also elevated the western genre from 'B' grade to 'A'. This episode it's John Ford's "Stagecoach" (1939). They talk about if it truly is a classic, how it made John Wayne a star, and the influences it had on films to come after it. Also covered: listener comments and what they've watched as of late.

Note: there were some audio issues when this was recorded. Lee has managed to edit around most of them, but at times the conversation might feel a tad disjointed, and a few sports of audio break-up might be heard. Sadly, it's also about ten minutes shorter than it originally was.

All three hosts are back for this episode to give what might be both their most interesting and insightful yet drunkenly chaotic episode of TMBDOS! Starting off a short series on classic westerns, Daniel, Paul, and Lee take a look at two early examples of revisionist westerns with "High Noon" (1953) & "3:10 to Yuma" (1957). Much of the discussion revolves around how similar the films are and which one is better. Of note, Daniel's reading on "High Noon" drastically changes Lee's opinions on the film. Listener comments are also covered. Saddle up, this one's a long and bumpy ride.

Lee is back to dig into one of his favourite film genres of all time, especially when it come to soundtracks and scores: the Italian crime/Poliziotteschi film genre. Ultra violence, lurid sex, and all sorts of musical styles abound from these films, and Lee tried hard to trim down the playlist to some of his all-time favourite tracks. So load up your guns and take the law into your own hands as society breaks down around you, in corruption and violence. Can you come out the other end clean? Who cares when the music is this great? Note: at one point Lee credits "Death Proof" instead of "Death Wish" as an influence on the genre, and, of course, he butchers Italian pronounciations left and right. But you expected that, right?

This week the whole gang is back to take a look at William Friedkin's adaptation of "La Salaire de la Peur"/"The Wages of Fear", that being 1977's box office bomb "Sorcerer". Was it rightly dismissed back when it was released or did production problems and a little film called "Star Wars" kill the film's chances out of the gate? Also covered: listener comments and recent watches.

Lee and Paul are taking a journey down the Amazon this week to tackle Werner Herzog's atmospheric masterpiece "Aguirre: the Wrath of God". Lee is drunk, Paul is sober, and Kinski is out of fucking control. Listener comments and what the hosts have purchased/watched lately is also briefly covered.

Lee is back for Intermission #21. Originally he was going to review a couple of horror movies that everyone else and their dead relatives have already seen and talked about, but thinking better of it, instead he decided to take a look at upcoming horror releases for 2018, and give his off-the-cuff reactions to them. Then he ends off sorting through his horror film collection and giving 12 humble suggestions for double feature watches for this Halloween night.

It's Halloween in the year 2017, and the last real Wolf Man of rock radio, Lee Van Teeth, is feeling hairy and mean. Look out fathers, he's back to corrupt your daughters. Get your drinks all swirled, and get ready for him to rock your world. Creepy hits and spooky trailers for horrific films are in abundance this year.

Be careful if listening with earbuds. The normalisation of the sound is much better this year, but it's not perfect.

Episode 7 of Blood on the Tracks is here. Lee concludes his look at the soundtracks and scores of North Amercian-made slashers from the 1980s, this time covering selections from '85 to '89, while offering a few comments on the trends seen in the genre as it declined.

Lee and Paul continue their horror-filled October of 2017 by looking at the Bob Clark-directed classic "Deathdream" from 1974. The conversation revolves around how America started to change in the wake of the Vietnam war, and the changes in attitude society had towards returning soldiers in comparison to the vets of WWII. The hosts also talk about how effective or not all aspects of this low budget production come off. Some listener comments are also read.

Lee and Paul are on board to provide the first bit of bonus content for October 2017. They take a look at the bloody slasher film "Nightmare" (AKA "Nightmares in a Damaged Brain") from 1981. Does this video nasty still have an impact? How does it rate alongside similiar films like "Maniac" and "Don't Go into the House"? Is it a piece of shit like Tom Savini claims, whenever he's denying his involement on the film? All of this and slightly more!